I moved out of my apartment before I went to Korea, so now I am living in Victoria's apartment. Unfortunately, there is no internet there anymore, so I am writing this from the library instead. It is really hot here in Toyama, and very humid.
Korea was fun, but also very hot. We mostly relaxed and took it easy, instead of running around seeing lots of touristy stuff. We spent half our trip at the beach. The beach we went to was very commercialized, but not really built for foreign tourists. Hardly anyone spoke any English, so we had a really hard time communicating in restaurants and the like. There were tons of fairly expensive motels, all of which looked fairly similar and had corny names like The Titanic Motel, which had a giant picture of Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslett on it.
Today we are also moving out of Victoria's apartment and into a friend's apartment for the next couple of days. We will leave Toyama on Tuesday night, on an overnight train to Tokyo, where we will fly to London from on Wednesday. All and all, it is a bit hectic right now, mostly moving, cleaning, and sending boxes home. I can't believe how much stuff we have accumulated in two years, while trying not to accumulate stuff. It doesn't help that I can only take one suitcase weighing 20kg back, which I was able to take two weighing 32kg each on the way over. That's quite a big difference. 20kg is really not that much, and my suitcase will probably be a couple kilograms over. Hopefully I won't have to pay an extra fee.
Victoria's sister's wedding is in a week. It should be interesting to meet her family, and hopefully I can also meet lots of people who want to help me find a job. :) So far I have been looking online mostly. I am focusing mostly on jobs which want fluent Spanish speakers who know computer stuff. I figure that might help me get a work permit, because it is a specific requirement most programmers wouldn't qualify for. If you hear anything, be sure to let me know.
Saturday, July 31, 2004
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Well, I have just officially moved out of my apartment today. I had to leave early because I am going to Korea starting tomorrow until the 28th. The new ALT, Andrew, is coming on the 28th, so I had to be out of the apartment by then. In some ways it is a relief, because I have taken care of my final gas and electric bills already, plus rent. Now I can relax more in Korea.
However, I seem to have way too much weight in my suitcase, so I may have to pay a little for having an overweight suitcase. I sent 18 kg of stuff to England today, which is actually my fourth box. The luggage allowance is only 1 suitcase weighing 20 kg to everywhere but Canada and America. It is so small it is hard to believe. Plus, extra suitcases cost a fortune.
I am taking a load of things to Korea to send first class from there, because it is 50% of the cost of Japan. That should help with the weight some.
Yesterday was the closing ceremony, and I made a speech in Japanese. It was okay, but I made a big mistake, which was okay because it sounded a lot like a joke. I said that when I came to Japan I spoke perfect English, rather than no English. It was only a slight difference in Japanese, but the meaning was quite different. They thought I was being sarcastic, so it all worked out in the end.
I was given several gifts, including flowers, a nice lacquerware tray, and some windchimes. I am having to send the windchimes back by mail, since they weigh a lot.
Well, I have to get ready for Korea
However, I seem to have way too much weight in my suitcase, so I may have to pay a little for having an overweight suitcase. I sent 18 kg of stuff to England today, which is actually my fourth box. The luggage allowance is only 1 suitcase weighing 20 kg to everywhere but Canada and America. It is so small it is hard to believe. Plus, extra suitcases cost a fortune.
I am taking a load of things to Korea to send first class from there, because it is 50% of the cost of Japan. That should help with the weight some.
Yesterday was the closing ceremony, and I made a speech in Japanese. It was okay, but I made a big mistake, which was okay because it sounded a lot like a joke. I said that when I came to Japan I spoke perfect English, rather than no English. It was only a slight difference in Japanese, but the meaning was quite different. They thought I was being sarcastic, so it all worked out in the end.
I was given several gifts, including flowers, a nice lacquerware tray, and some windchimes. I am having to send the windchimes back by mail, since they weigh a lot.
Well, I have to get ready for Korea
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Finally, the charity show is over, and I can take some time to relax. Oh wait, I am leaving in a month, so I can't really do that. Oh well.
To make things more stressful on us, our board of education has decided to withhold lots of information from us until the last minute. We knew that some of the ALTs wouldn't have successors, but we didn't find out who. We found out last week, and unfortunately, Victoria doesn't have one. I do, but I didn't pay very much for the things in my apartment. Victoria paid a fortune by comparison, and now we have to figure out how to get rid of it all. We're trying to sell the sofa to another JET, and I'm taking her VCR, rice maker, and some other stuff and passing it along to my successor. Originally I wasn't going to charge him anything, but I decided to charge what I was charged when I moved in, $300. It's a good deal, since the stuff will be considerably better than when I moved in. The addition of Victoria's stuff will make it quite a nice place, actually. The VCR is nice because you can watch bilingual TV with it, and listen to the news in English.
The other news they have been tight-lipped about, is about how much money we will get for our plane tickets home, and when we will get it. Last year the JETs who were leaving found out in April how much money they would each get for plane tickets. This year we still have no idea how much money we will get, or when. I just hope they don't ask for a receipt (they didn't last year), because I am not returning directly to America, which they are obsessed about. Apparently they feel like if I leave Japan and go to China before going home and something happens, then it is their fault. We are still their responsibility. However, if I go straight home and something horrible happens, then they can sleep easily at night. Doesn't really seem to make sense to me. Perhaps it stems from the Japanese national identity, and the feeling of being a group. They think that Americans as a group will take responsibility for me when I go back. It doesn't quite work that way at home, though.
I found out some about my successor. His name is Andrew, and he lives in Charlotte, NC, so my school will get another NC guy. Shouldn't be too hard for my students to adjust to his accent. He interviewed in Atlanta, so he is a group A participant, which means he will actually come a week before I leave. This, of course, further complicates things, because he is moving into my apartment. Originally, I was going to stay, and I thought they would put him in a temporary apartment. But they decided to put him in a different apartment in my building. However, that seemed like a real pain, because I would have to move all the furniture downstairs, etc. So instead I have agreed to move out a week early. Unfortunately, the timing is not so good, because I think he will arrive while Victoria and I are in Korea. So I will have to have my place ready by the time I leave for Korea on the 22nd. Better get cracking! This week I sent one box home via surface, and sent another to England, so I am clearing out stuff fast. I hope to send one more from Korea first class mail.
The charity show went well, I thought. All the little details worked themselves out at the end, but it was a lot of stress and running around. This year we were plagued by people not wanting to help with certain parts of the show, and the leadership, myself especially, ended up doing a lot more work than planned. In the end, we had 250 people at the first show, and 178 at the evening show. About 50 JETs and Japanese people helped with the show in different ways. We raised about 570,000 yen ($5,500) for our three charities, which is a little less than last year, but enough to make me happy. I was hoping to get larger crowds this year because we had a much bigger theater. However, the musical cast members did a pretty bad job of selling tickets. Three people sold about 20-30 each, and the next highest cast member sold 5. I sold 35 tickets, and got another 7 people to come and buy tickets at the show, plus 5 people who had complementary tickets. I was most pissed at the cast member who lived and worked in the town where the theater was. He didn't sell a single ticket, and he said he didn't even put up posters or make announcements to his students. I don't understand why you would work so hard for 6 months practicing a play and then not get anyone to come see it.
To make things more stressful on us, our board of education has decided to withhold lots of information from us until the last minute. We knew that some of the ALTs wouldn't have successors, but we didn't find out who. We found out last week, and unfortunately, Victoria doesn't have one. I do, but I didn't pay very much for the things in my apartment. Victoria paid a fortune by comparison, and now we have to figure out how to get rid of it all. We're trying to sell the sofa to another JET, and I'm taking her VCR, rice maker, and some other stuff and passing it along to my successor. Originally I wasn't going to charge him anything, but I decided to charge what I was charged when I moved in, $300. It's a good deal, since the stuff will be considerably better than when I moved in. The addition of Victoria's stuff will make it quite a nice place, actually. The VCR is nice because you can watch bilingual TV with it, and listen to the news in English.
The other news they have been tight-lipped about, is about how much money we will get for our plane tickets home, and when we will get it. Last year the JETs who were leaving found out in April how much money they would each get for plane tickets. This year we still have no idea how much money we will get, or when. I just hope they don't ask for a receipt (they didn't last year), because I am not returning directly to America, which they are obsessed about. Apparently they feel like if I leave Japan and go to China before going home and something happens, then it is their fault. We are still their responsibility. However, if I go straight home and something horrible happens, then they can sleep easily at night. Doesn't really seem to make sense to me. Perhaps it stems from the Japanese national identity, and the feeling of being a group. They think that Americans as a group will take responsibility for me when I go back. It doesn't quite work that way at home, though.
I found out some about my successor. His name is Andrew, and he lives in Charlotte, NC, so my school will get another NC guy. Shouldn't be too hard for my students to adjust to his accent. He interviewed in Atlanta, so he is a group A participant, which means he will actually come a week before I leave. This, of course, further complicates things, because he is moving into my apartment. Originally, I was going to stay, and I thought they would put him in a temporary apartment. But they decided to put him in a different apartment in my building. However, that seemed like a real pain, because I would have to move all the furniture downstairs, etc. So instead I have agreed to move out a week early. Unfortunately, the timing is not so good, because I think he will arrive while Victoria and I are in Korea. So I will have to have my place ready by the time I leave for Korea on the 22nd. Better get cracking! This week I sent one box home via surface, and sent another to England, so I am clearing out stuff fast. I hope to send one more from Korea first class mail.
The charity show went well, I thought. All the little details worked themselves out at the end, but it was a lot of stress and running around. This year we were plagued by people not wanting to help with certain parts of the show, and the leadership, myself especially, ended up doing a lot more work than planned. In the end, we had 250 people at the first show, and 178 at the evening show. About 50 JETs and Japanese people helped with the show in different ways. We raised about 570,000 yen ($5,500) for our three charities, which is a little less than last year, but enough to make me happy. I was hoping to get larger crowds this year because we had a much bigger theater. However, the musical cast members did a pretty bad job of selling tickets. Three people sold about 20-30 each, and the next highest cast member sold 5. I sold 35 tickets, and got another 7 people to come and buy tickets at the show, plus 5 people who had complementary tickets. I was most pissed at the cast member who lived and worked in the town where the theater was. He didn't sell a single ticket, and he said he didn't even put up posters or make announcements to his students. I don't understand why you would work so hard for 6 months practicing a play and then not get anyone to come see it.
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